Wednesday, May 14, 2008

It seems Honky may be learning a habit from Hank that I don't mind one bit. When I feed in the morning, Hank likes to give you one of his classic "gruff-fuff-fuff-fuffs" as you near the fence with his grub. He's got a super low voice, and it always makes me smile to hear it. Well, Miss Honky Tonk started to try her version of that this morning. But it comes out like "Wheeze. Wheeze. Wheeze. Saaawwww. Grunt. Wheeze....." Makes me smile even more.

I forgot to mention that the farrier came out last Friday to work on Honky Tonk's feet. Her fronts were in real sad shape. She was way over on her front right, and she favored it when standing. Jodi was able to take about a 1/4" of heel off of that foot and set her down and a more realistic angle. You could see that Honky appreciated the change almost immediately. Her left front was trimmed so short that Jodi couldn't do much with it except shape the toe a little. That foot is really flared out to the side. We'll have to let the fronts grow out and work on re-shaping them over the course of a few months. Her rear hooves were in better shape, and Jodi touched them up a bit. I told her that when we tried to pick up the back feet, Honky would just kick out, but Jodi wanted to give it a try and see if she could get Honky to give her foot. She took her time and Honky dealt with it well. I gotta say that our farrier is a brave little thing. She kept saying that Honky Girl is so much better than other donkeys that she trims. When a donkey kicks, they don't give a warning like a horse does. There may be the slightest flick of a tail, then WHOOSH, your hat goes flying. Jodi says that you can't even feel their muscles tense up like a horses. They just shoot a leg out and you hear the wind it created. If you ain't hurtin', it missed.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Honky settled in well. She was quarantined in the small pasture away from the boys for almost a week. She is eating and drinking just fine, and her poops are normal. I gave her a dose of Safe Guard Saturday morning and took her for a walk down the road and around the farm. She leads well enough, but stopping and staying stopped is a work in progress. She's an explorer, for sure. Traffic doesn't bother her one bit, and I sure got the looks from drivers as I walked my ass down the road at six in the morning. We have two plywood cutouts of deer in the back yard that she wasn't too sure of, but we took our time and she realized they weren't going to eat her.Saturday afternoon was set aside for a good ass-washing. Sara tackled this with some help from a friend and her daughter. Honky didn't seem to enjoy herself, but she didn't put up too much of a fuss. They got all the matted mud and dust and who-knows-what off of her and she's soft and fluffy now.

We introduced the new girl to the boys on Sunday. Sara led her around the little pasture while the boys were locked in the big pasture. She minds electric fences well, so I'm not too concerned about her trying to be an escape artist. Wyatt was acting like a goof; running the fence line and doing laps in his pasture (nice lead changes). Hank was mildly curious, and Jin was uninterested after just coming home from his big show. We let the horses meet Honky one at a time, with Wyatt coming over first. He just wanted to play with her, but she wanted none of that. I have NO fear that she can hold her own with the nastiest of horses. She's got a flying double-barelled kick that almost breaks the sound barrier. It amazed me that Wyatt didn't take one in the kisser. We had to boogie from the pasture because she kept trying to hide behind us, and when Wyatt would come over she'd let off another two shots at him. Much too close to me for comfort. They settled down after a few minutes and munched on their hay piles, but Honky Girl never left an eye or ear off of him.

Then Hank was led in and Wyatt was led out. Hank just stood at the gate alternating looks at that THING, us, and the green pasture he just left. After a few minutes of that show of patheticism, Sara went out in the pasture and led him from the gate. He kept his distance from Honky, but quickly saw she was eating HIS hay, so he sauntered over. She fired off another round of both barrels in the air just below his chin, and he had to show off his acrobatics as well. Hank's a big boy, but he's got some moves. Heels straight up, mud flying, twisting, farting. But it was all for show. Honky was unimpressed and went back to eating his hay.

After Hank came Jin. We had to wake him up first. He sleepwalked over to the fuzzy new thing, dodged her flying heels, and proceeded to eat Hank's hay. Honky Girl ran around him a few times which must have pulled him from his slumber. Would you believe that boy has some really good cow skills? He herded her right into a corner in no time, then relented after she fired off a round at his head again.Yesterday we decided Hank and Honky could be pasturemates. At first he had to show off his arobatics, but after a while he settled down and stood by the fence watching me mow lawn. As I made each pass, I noticed Honky was creeping her way closer to Hank. In no time she was standing right at his side like best buds. Looks like she found a friend.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Meet Miss Honky Tonk Girl:We aquired (rescued?) a sad sack case of a donkey from an Amish farm down the road a bit. She's a sweetheart, but she doesn't come without concerns. Her feet are in saaaad shape. She's about 5 or 6 or 10, and I'll bet her feet weren't done more than once. They trimmed her up last week, and did a horrific job. They told me she was all slipper-footed when they got her, and they just got around to trimming her last week. I didn't ask how long they had her. Didn't matter, as we just wanted her outta there. In addition, she's got a nasty underbite, a horribly matted and filthy coat, a cut across each knee, and sores under her halter (as you can see in the pic). But we'll knock the dust off of her and get her some good worming and shots and see how she finishes up.

Checking out her new home:

The boys were NOT amused:She'll stay in quarrantine until next week, then we'll introduce her to the boys. She got a half tube of ivemectin, and I'll follow that up with a few days of Safeguard. I've been dusting her with flea/mite powder just to be safe, but she just needs a good bath, which we'll do Saturday. I'll be sure to get more pics!

She's got one heck of a bray, and she's not afraid to use it. The neighbor across the 40 made sure to let us know how loud she is.